Why is it important to distinguish between mistakes and errors?

Answer 1

It is true that we usually resort to the word "error" when defining the word "mistake," and conversely, too, but in fact the words do not mean the same thing. Most synonyms do not "mean the same thing," exactly, because all words have multiple meanings. For example, crimson is a synonym for red under some circumstances, but not all. The best usage recognizes the root differences in words that may have overlapping, synonymous senses.

Mistake is an English word that means a wrong take, an incorrect understanding, bad choice. Error is a French word, ultimately from Latin, and it means a wandering, a straying from the truth, a bad choice. Thus a mistake implies faulty understanding or response to what comes at us, and an error implies faulty understanding of what we're doing.

Another way to see it is that all mistakes are errors, but not all errors are mistakes. Hitting your thumb with a hammer is an error and a mistake. Refusing to believe in original sin is an error.

Too fine a point? Oh well, who said it was important?